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Sonny Burnett Arc
".]] The Sonny Burnett Arc describes the story arc that took place between Seasons 4 and 5 of Miami Vice involving Sonny Crockett. The storyline resulted in the first and only cliffhanger of the entire series. Origin The origins of the story go all the way back to Season 3's "Forgive Us Our Debts", when Crockett saves Hackman, whom he put away on the charge of murdering his partner, from death row; Hackman had set up an elaborate false testimony, and when confronted with this new evidence "he knew Crockett would do his job". Upon his release, he confronts Crockett with the truth behind his virtual escape, but Crockett is helpless to do anything but watch him walk away a free man. Later, in Season 4's "Like A Hurricane", Crockett met and married singer Caitlin Davies in a whirlwind romance. Crockett's feelings for Caitlin were very deep and very real. Caitlin's Murder Hackman returns in "Deliver Us From Evil", where he murders a family, including a teenage girl, in a botched home invasion. He assumes that as Crockett is working Vice, therefore placing robbery and homicide outside of his jurisdiction, he will be free of harassment from his old nemesis; this quickly proves to be false, and Crockett is determined to right the wrongs Hackman has caused. During a shootout, Hackman's wife is killed by her own husband in the crossfire, although both men assume Crockett was responsible and Hackman, incensed that his lover is dead, begins to plan his revenge. He sneaks into the sound box at one of Caitlin's concerts, sets up his sniper rifle, and takes aim at Crockett, who is waiting in the wings to greet his wife after many weeks apart. As Caitlin finishes her final number and moves off stage, Hackman apparently has a vicious change of mind, and his crosshairs move to Cailtin's back. Her limp body falls into Crockett's arms as the crowd, knowing nothing is wrong, cheer for their beloved popstar. Crockett descends into a sombre, drunken rage, further fuelled when he learns that Caitlin had been seven weeks pregnant when she was killed, a fact she had been trying for some time to tell him but due to the constant work demands on both she was never able to. Enraged over losing his wife and child, and racked with guilt because it was he that got Hackman off of death row to begin with, Crockett tracks down and kills his nemesis in cold blood, a move that proves just how far his personal devastation has pushed him. Even after eliminating his wife's murderer, he still maintains his fury and grief. Crockett Becomes Burnett Crockett continues with his undercover work, but Tubbs sees how distracted he is. While working on a new case during "Mirror Image", Crockett boards a boat to attend a summit meeting between rival drug gangs. However, one of the other men at the meet, Gutierrez, intends to use the event as an opportunity to eliminate both his boss' people and a sizeable chunk of the opposition, thereby setting himself up as a major player. He plans to do so with a bomb, and despite attempting to subtly warn Crockett away with him, the undercover cop is caught in the explosion and feared dead. In reality he survives, but with massive head trauma leading to complete amnesia. To add to his troubles, he is found by the cartel he was investigating, and since they only know him as Burnett they manage to convince him he really is Burnett. He subsequently goes to work for the cartel's leader, Manolo, as an enforcer, and he quickly impresses with his ruthless style. He becomes close to Manolo's gallery manager, Polly Wheeler. In the course of his new employment, he also kills four members of a rival gang and Gutierrez, shoots Tubbs, and guns down a corrupt Fort Lauderdale cop named Hagovitch. Burnett Takes Over Manolo is assassinated before the events of "Hostile Takeover", and Burnett subsequently finds fresh employment for the man who ordered the assassination, Carrera. While initially proving to be an incredibly loyal enforcer and bodyguard, Burnett begins to show his darker side and seduces Carrera's trophy wife, Celeste, as well as scheming to turn Carrera and his son against each other, ultimately leading to both their deaths. Burnett takes over as head of the cartel, with Carrera's head hitman, Cliff King, as his lieutenant. On his way to the top, Burnett kills many more members of the drug underworld, and Castillo begins to believe Crockett has really gone over to the other side and must be destroyed. Only Tubbs retains a sliver of belief in his former partner, and he goes undercover as an interested buyer so that he can try to convince Burnett who he really is. At a preliminary meeting the two talk, but when Burnett remembers that Tubbs is a cop he almost shoots him once again. Burnett Becomes Crockett By the time of "Redemption In Blood", the fragments of Burnett's old life are coming thicker and faster, partially as a result of Tubbs attempting to remind him of who he really is. Burnett becomes increasingly distressed and sinks into alcoholism and depression, despite taking his cartel to new heights and driving most of his criminal opposition out of business with Cliff King's help. At the same time King, perhaps learning a little too much from watching Burnett's rapid and skilful rise to power, and jealous that this newcomer had obtained so much power while years of faithful service have not improved his own position, begins plotting to take his place. A failed car bomb attempt again leaves Burnett with head trauma and finally causes his memories to return, leaving him horrified at what he has become. Seeing no alternative, he hands himself in to his old Vice squad. His story is met with scepticism and Crockett finds himself facing the very real possibility of going to jail for his crimes alongside so many criminals he helped to put away. Desperate to clear his name at any cost, Crockett escapes custody and goes back to his cartel, hoping to take the whole organisation down before a suspicious Cliff King realises who he really is or Metro-Dade catch up to him and send him to prison for a very long time. He succeeds, saving Tubbs' life in the process and helping to earn back some of the trust he had lost with his old squad. Aftermath Despite bringing down the old Carrera cartel, Crockett still had to answer for his crimes, including the unlawful killing of several low-level criminals, a police officer, and the attempted murder of Tubbs; according to Tubbs, he had a yellow sheet that made Dillinger look like Bambi. Crockett's only defense was that he couldn't remember anything after the boat explosion, but the rest of the squad struggles to accept what could simply be a convenient alibi. He is forced to take time off to recover, and he is subjected to fierce questioning and psychiatric evaluations, but eventually he is exonerated of all crimes, his previously excellent record as a police officer going a long way to help him. Eventually his friends slowly begin to trust him again, but Crockett is left with serious mental scarring that no doubt ultimately plays a large part in his decision to quite the force in "Freefall". List of Episodes The following episodes are the ones which make up the Sonny Burnett story arc: * "A Bullet For Crockett" * "Deliver Us From Evil" * "Mirror Image" * "Hostile Takeover" * "Redemption In Blood" * Although not considered part of the arc, Crockett's actions as Burnett are briefly mentioned in "Heart Of Night". * "Bad Timing" Category:Miami Vice Characters